So maybe this is what it takes for mixed martial arts to be mainstream.

UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones’ incredible pre-UFC 128 crimefighting story set the MMA world abuzz this past Saturday, and the attention to “Bones” heightened even more following his one-sided beatdown of Mauricio “Shogun” Rua later that night.

The good Samaritan routine even earned the 23-year-old champ some featured time on ESPN’s “SportsCenter” Monday morning.

The ESPN news show named Jones’ victory the ninth-best sports highlight of the weekend, and a pre-taped interview of “Bones” discussing his adventure was also featured on the program.

The once-in-a-lifetime day for Jones began this past Saturday morning. Seeking a place to meditate, Jones and his team happened to arrive on the scene of a robbery. Without hesitation, Jones’ coaches Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn sprinted after the thief. Just hours away from the biggest fight of his life, Jones quickly followed.

At Saturday night’s post-event press conference, Jones shared the details of the chase.

“Before my fights, I like to find a really beautiful site, whether it’s the top of a mountain, next to a stream – anything gorgeous, nature-wise,” Jones said. “I like to associate nature with different levels of energy. We find a place in Paterson, N.J., where there’s a bridge, and there’s a very powerful waterfall. There’s also a little mountain. It was beautiful, but around this waterfall was a really ghetto area.

“As the guy pulls us up in the car – in the passenger seat is Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn is in the back – he’s like, ‘Listen, before I drop you off, I want to let you know this is a pretty bad neighborhood, so you might want to be careful.’ I’m like, ‘Dude, we’re alright. We’re all MMA guys.’ He’s like, ‘Well, I’m just letting you know. A lot of guys get mugged here.'”

As if on cue, the insanity immediately followed.

“Just as he said that, I turned to pull off my seatbelt, and I see an old Spanish couple screaming,” Jones said. “They’re running, and they look like they’re out of breath, bigtime. I’m like, ‘They just got mugged.’ Then I’m like, ‘Maybe not. Maybe I’m just tripping and put that in my mind.’

“Mike Winkeljohn gets out of the car, and he’s like, ‘Are you guys OK?’ She’s like, ‘The guy, he just broke my window open, and he took all of my stuff, and he’s running.’ Mike Winkeljohn, without hesitation, he just starts running. Then Greg Jackson, he just starts running. So I’m like, ‘What is happening right now?'”

After briefly evaluating the situation, Jones joined the chase.

“I just started running,” Jones said. “I’ve got these gazelle legs, so I’m running, and next thing you know I picked up to my coaches. I’m jogging, and they’re sprinting, and I’m like, ‘What do we do if we catch this guy?’ He’s like, ‘Jon, you get back.’ He tried a swim move. ‘Get back; you don’t need to be involved in this.’ I’m like, ‘Coach, trust me. I’ll be OK.’ Then I put the jets on, and I caught up to this guy.

“I’m closing in on the guy, and I’m about 20 yards away. I can see the guy’s getting winded. He looks back and sees me, 6-foot-4, got Greg and Wink behind us, and I’m just running like, ‘You know I’m going to catch you, right?’ The guy looks back, then he trips over his own foot. I got so scared because I didn’t know what I was going to do when I actually caught him.”

Once he did, instinct – and Jackson – took over.

“I came up behind him and kicked his ankle out,” Jones said. “He fell down, and when he fell, he scraped his hands up pretty good. He’s down on the floor, and I’m thinking, ‘I’m going to be stabbed right now.’

“I’m just looking at him, and Greg Jackson comes out of nowhere and jumps on the guy’s back. I grabbed the guy’s legs, and I put him in this move. I went to college for criminal justice, and I had a class in defensive tactics, so I grabbed him, and I figure-foured his legs, and I sat on his legs.”

Jones and his coaches restrained the thief until police arrived on the scene. The stolen property was recovered, and Jones said the entire episode – which could have had disastrous repercussions for UFC 128’s main event – served to boost his in-cage performance.

“We all felt like superheroes, and we just had the best meditation session afterward,” Jones said. “I felt really good after that. I felt like I’ve got to win this fight. I did the handwork and dedication, and now I’ve got karma on my side. It was crazy.”

Jones did win the fight, and he did so in astounding fashion with a third-round TKO win that he dominated from the opening bell.

At Saturday’s post-event press conference, UFC president Dana White commended Jones for his bravery but also politely requested he refrain from such future adventures.

“I’d like him to stop fighting crime like two hours before he’s supposed to fight,” White said.

White also used the moment to jokingly send a message to New York assemblyman Bob Reilly, who has long stood in staunch opposition to the regulation of MMA in his state.

“I just want to say to assemblyman Reilly, we came to New York, we had an economic impact on your city – and not just here but in Syracuse, Buffalo and all these other cities – and we fight crime, too,” White said with a laugh. “How can you keep us out of here? Are you crazy?”

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